PREFACE

My goal in this volume is to communicate the range and diversity of work in the sociology of emotions. Most of the papers fall within the normal parameters of the Advances in Group Process series, but I have also included several articles that normally would not be part of the series. My intent is, in essence, to stretch the definition of “group” to larger-scale social structures, although the focus is on how culture and social structure interact with the activation of emotions in people. I have also sought to stretch the study of emotions in the opposite direction: toward the physiological processes generating emotional responses. There is a clear bias toward theoretical papers, although several articles report research findings as they bear on a particularly theory.